arteta stats xg
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How Stats Are Warping the Way We Watch Football

ByPaddy Keogh

You’d be surprised how many opinions about a footballer’s performance now hinge on a number between 6.3 and 8.1. No context, no nuance, just a number. This is what happens when apps like Sofascore and FotMob go from being helpful tools to being the entire conversation. The overreliance on football stats is not just changing…

Kerlon Football Manager Wonderkid
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Forgotten Wonderkids of Football Manager: Where Did It Go Wrong?

ByPaddy Keogh

There’s a strange joy in finding a wonderkid on Football Manager before anyone else knows their name. That rush when you sign a 16-year-old for peanuts and five seasons later he’s bagging goals in a Champions League final. Football Manager has a knack for spotting talent long before it breaks through. Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney,…

Mikel Arteta overseeing training
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Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal Project Enters Its Deliver Now Stage

ByJamesMuturi

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal Project faces a season-defining game, and perhaps career defining game, on Wednesday against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League Semi-finals in Paris. Their season comes down to this: A win catapults Mikel Arteta into the Arsenal history books, making him just the second Arsenal manager to reach a UEFA Champions League…

football fakes con ali dia
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The Football Fakes: The Game’s Greatest Impostors

ByPaddy Keogh

Imagine turning on the TV to watch your club’s new signing make his debut, only to realise within minutes that he can’t even trap a ball. Now picture discovering that this same player had convinced your manager he was an international star with nothing more than a few phone calls and a smooth story. That’s…

Trent Alexander Arnold on bench vs Everton
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Liverpool Fans Have a Right to Be Angry At Trent

ByScott

“He’s won everything at Liverpool.” “Is Trent not allowed to want a new challenge?” “He didn’t cost Liverpool anything!” Everyone exclaims online, completely missing the point. Trent Alexander-Arnold has manufactured, over the course of four years, an exit plan. From the moment he only signed a four-year deal back in 2021, this move was set…

Jose-Mourinho-Tactico-Tacticos
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Football Tacticos and the Death of Football Conversation

ByPaddy Keogh

“You see, they’re in a 3-2-5 in possession, inverted full-backs creating the box midfield. But out of possession, it’s more of a 4-2-2-2, with the wingers engaging the second phase in a hybrid press.” Now, read that again and ask yourself, what have you actually learned? The rise of Football Tacticos – those self-styled tactical…

Andre Onana
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Andre Onana Under Fire But Links to Saudi Arabia Unfounded

ByPaddy Keogh

He was already in the headlines before kick-off. By the final whistle, the knives were fully out for Andre Onana. Manchester United’s often mercurial goalkeeper, Andre Onana, endured another error-strewn performance in the 2-2 Europa League draw against Lyon, with both goals a direct result of his own misjudgements. But before a ball had even…